Frank Ocean Announces New Album, Releases New Track
Plus there's a new video, a tour... someone's been busy.
We saw him debut a brand-new song at Coachella, and now it seems Frank Ocean has dealt with his Def Jam demons: he's just announced (via his Tumblr) the release of his second album — on the very same label that forgot about him a few years back. Here's an extract from our interview with Frank in Oyster #93:
Ariane Halls: So, you signed to Island Def Jam... What happened? They just ignored you for a year?
Frank Ocean: Well, ignoring me sounds like they knew I existed.
How does it happen that they sign you and then they don't know you exist?
Frank: Well, it happens that way when you have a lot of people with signing power in a company. And, you know, so one guy in the building could have a pet project or something and not really put anybody else in the building onto that project, and just leave that project sitting there until it's convenient for him to work on that project.
Nabil Elderkin: I was with Frank and a label executive yesterday, and the label executive said, "Oh man, I'm a big fan of your music!" and then, "Man, I wish I'd known you were on my label!"
Frank: He's not shitting you.
Nabil: This is... Well, it's one of the heads, put it that way. One of the big cats.
Frank: It's a true story. But it's all good and it was a gift; it was a gift. It allowed me to do my own thing and to not be fucked with.
(Nabil photographed the story for Oyster #93 and directed Frank's 'Novacane' clip — not to mention Kanye's new single, 'Mercy'.)
Here's the teaser video, a futuristic slow-jam about a lady called 'Cleopatra', which has had over 80,000 views since yesterday:
The video raises more questions than it answers, including:
- Who actually knows someone called Cleopatra?
- Can Frank Ocean make station wagons a 'thing'?
- Will Coldplay's Chris Martin guest on the record?
Keeping with the ancient Egyptian vibe, Frank followed up with a brand-new track called 'Pyramids'...
...and even announced a tour (see below — tickets are on sale now!). Def Jam have confirmed that the album, titled Channel Orange, will be released on 17 July 2012.
Read our interview with Frank from Oyster #93.
Main photo: Nabil Elderkin
Ariane Halls
